| Born November 24, 1892,
in Warsaw, Achron received his early musical training from his father.
He later attended the St.Petersburg Conservatory where he studied piano
with Annette Essipoff and Nicolai Doubsassoff, composition with Anatol
Liadoff, and orchestration with Max Steinberg. He received his artist's
diploma in 1915 and embarked on his first concert tour of Russia. Further
plans for performing were interrupted by World War I, however, with Achron
being called to serve three years in the Russian army.
In 1922 Achron emigrated to the United States,
becoming a citizen in 1928. Achron's life changed on March 21, 1923 when
he received an urgent telegram from Jascha Heifetz that read, "I am offering
you a position as accompanist for tour beginning May 1, 1923 terminating
May 1, 1924 including tour of the orient." For the next ten years Achron
served as Heifetz's principal accompanist, recording an extensive discography
and performing chamber and solo recitals in major music centers all over
the world. On June 14, 1935 Achron married the mezzo-soprano Lea Karina.
Karina, born in Helsinki in 1914, made her singing debut with the Helsingfors
Symphony Orchestra in 1931 under the baton of Jean Sibelius. She was an
accompolished pianist as well as singer who was able to perform vocal repertoire
in nine different languages. In 1941 she made her New York debut at Town
Hall with her husband accompanying. She went on to have a successful career
in radio and later served as audio director for the popular television
show Your Hit Parade. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Nicolas Slonimsky were
among the composers who dedicated songs to her.
The mid 1930s witnessed Achron's return to
solo performance as well as serious work as a composer. In 1937 he completed
his First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra which he premiered on December
9, 1937 at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic, John Barbirolli
conducting. He later performed the concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra
and the Colonne Orchestra of Paris. Major publishers began to show interest
in Achron's compositions with the publication of the First Piano Concerto
and the first Sonnet for violin and piano in 1939 both by Carl Fischer,
Inc. In 1937, Achron's song "Do You Know That The Moon Can Talk" was published
by Chappell & Co., Ltd. under the pseudonym of Julian Dorr while the
Suite Grotesque for piano was published in 1943 by G. Schirmer. Among those
to whom Achron dedicated compositions were Heifetz, Yehudi Menuhin, Gregor
Piatigorsky, and Mischa Elman. In 1946 Achron gave his final Carnegie Hall
recital performing his own solo works as well as pieces by Mozart, Ravel,
Liszt, and Chopin. He died suddenly on May 12, 1948 in New York City. |